Windshield wiper assembly

ABSTRACT

A wiper blade unit has fasteners extending through clearance apertures in an arm connector so that the blade unit may become laterally canted within limits relative to the arm connector in both wiping directions. The blade unit includes a resilient blade body having a crown portion with a cavity containing metallic leaf springs. Straps inserted into end portions of the cavity are provided with closure caps which abuttingly engage the leaf springs and prevent longitudinal movement of the springs relative to the blade body.

United States Patent [191 Quinlan et a1.

[54] WINDSHIELD WIPER ASSENIBLY [75] Inventors: William J. Quinlan; Lawrence L.

Huver, both of Hastings, Mich.

[73] Assignee: Hastings Manufacturing Company,

Hastings, Mich.

[221 Filed: Oct. 18, 1971 [21] Appl. N0.: 190,067

Related US. Application Data [63] (llgyginuation-in-part of Ser. No. 90,987, Nov. 19,

[52] US. Cl ..l5/250.36, 15/250.42 [51] Int. Cl. ..B60s 1/32 [58] Field of Search ..15/250.36, 250.42

' [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 12/1955 Oishei et a1 ..15/250.42

[111 3,725,971 [451 Apr. 10, 1973 Oishei ..l5/250.42 Ludwig ..15/250.42

Primary Examiner-Peter Feldman Attorney-Munson H. Lane and Munson l-I. Lane, Jr.

[57] ABSTRACT A wiper blade unit has fasteners extending through clearance apertures in an arm connector so that the blade unit may become laterally canted within limits relative to the arm connector in both wiping directions. The blade unit includes a resilient blade body having a crown portion with a cavity containing metallic leaf springs. Straps inserted into end portions of the cavity are provided with closure caps which abuttingly engage the leaf springs and prevent longitudinal movement of the springs relative to the blade body.

4 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures PATENTEBAFRIOIQYS SHEETIDFZ IN VENTORS WILLIAM J. QUINLAN8 LAWRENCE 1.. HUVER WW 9?. M

ATTORNEY PATH-ITEDAPRIOIQYS sumaufz Fla].

ATTORNEY WINDSHIELD WIPER ASSEMBLY RELATED APPLICATION This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 90,987 filed Nov. 19, i970.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in windshield wiper assemblies, and in particular the invention concerns itself with certain structural and functional improvements in means for attaching a wiper blade unit to a wiper arm connector, as well as in the wiper blade unit itself. As such, the invention represents an improved arrangement of the windshield wiper assembly disclosed in the aforementioned related application Ser. No. 90,987 of which this application is a continuation-in-part.

One important feature of the present invention inthe structure of the blade unit itself, which includes a blade body of resilient material containing metallic leaf spring means, together .with improved closure means at the ends of the blade body to prevent longitudinal movement of the leaf spring means relative thereto.

With the foregoing more important object and features in view and such other objects and features which may become apparent as this specification proceeds, the invention will be understood from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like characters of reference designatelike parts, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a windshield wiper assembly in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view thereof;

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view thereof;

FIG. 4 is an end view, showing the blade unit canted on the windshield relative to the arm connector;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary, expoded perspective view of the connector, spring means, closure means and associated components with the resilient blade body omitted for sake of clarity;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary side elevational view of the invention utilizing a different type of a connector; and

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary top plan view of the subject shown in FIG. 6.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings in detail, more particularly to FIGS. 1-5, the improved windshield wiper assembly is designated generally by the reference numeral 10 and consists of two main components, namely a wiper blade unit 12 and a connector 13 which attaches the blade unit to a conventional wiper arm shown by the dotted lines 14.

For illustrative purposes the blade unit 12 may be of the particular construction disclosed in the aforementioned application Ser. No. 90,987 and the connector 13 may also be of the construction shown in FIGS. l-3 of that application, and the description which follows is related to those types of blade unit and connector. However, an important aspect of the present invention concerns a special attachment of the blade unit to the connector, and this may be applicable to other types of blade units and other types of connectors, not neces- I sarily those mentioned above.

With the foregoing in view, the blade unit 12 includes a blade body 15 formed from resiliently flexible material such as rubber, plastic, or the like, the body having a hollow crown portion 16 defining a longitudinally extending open-ended cavity 17 therein, and a lower wiping portion 18 which is integral with the base of the crown portion 16. The elongated cavity 17 contains biasing metallic leaf spring means 19 consisting of a set ofleaf springs disposed in superposed relation within the cavity 17 of the crown portion 16. All or at least some of the leaf springs in the set are initially longitudinally curved, although some of them in the set may be initially flat and become longitudinally curved when associated with the others in the set, so as to produce the desired degree of curvature and resiliently yieldable support of the blade unit as a whole, all this being in accordance with the disclosure in the aforementioned application Ser. No. 90,987. Also, some of the leaf springs in the set may be shorter than others, as for example, the spring 20 being shorter than the springs 21, 22 (see FIG. 5), but at least one of the springs, for examplethe spring 21, is coextensive in length with the cavity 17 or, inv other words, extends from one end of the blade body 15 to the other. The several springs in the set 19 are secured together, as by a rivet 23.

Inaccotdance with the invention, a mounting strip 24 is superposed on the. crown portion of the blade body and is rigidly secured to the biasing leaf spring means 19 by a pair of screws 25 engaging threaded apertures 26 in the uppermost leaf spring 21, the screws25 passing through apertures 27 in the end portions of the strip 24, as will be apparent from FIG. 5. A pair of shouldered rivets 28 are secured in apertures 29 in the mounting strip 24 and project upwardly from the blade unit 12, as is best shown in FIGS. 1 and 3. For all practical purposes, the mounting strip 24 may be superp'osed on the material of the crown portion 16 of the blade body, but if preferred, the top of the crown portion may be removed so that the strip 24 is superposed directly on the leaf spring 21, as shown in the drawings. In any event, the two shouldered. rivets 28 project upwardly from the blade unit, as already explained.

The wiper arm connector 13 includes a strip-like base 30 apertured to receive a pair of rivets 31 which secure that base to a support strip 32. The latter is provided with clearance apertures 33 which loosely or rockably receive the shoulders 34 of the aforementioned rivets 28. It is significant to note that the rivet shoulders 34 are sufficiently loose in the clearance apertures 33 of the support strip 32 that, when viewed in end elevation as in FIG. 4, the entire blade unit 12- may become canted laterally with respect to the con-.

the arrow 37 in FIG. 4. In either wiping direction, the mounting strip 24 of the blade unit 12 and the support strip 32 of the connector 13 have corresponding leading and trailing edges related to the direction of wiping movement and as indicated in FIG. 4, the trailing edges of the two strips come together as at 38. This provides stop means for limiting the canting action of the blade unit relative to the connector, it being noted that such canting movement must be sufficiently large to facilitate the effective blade contact with the windshield as already mentioned, yet not too large so as to allow too much of the rubber blade body to lay on the windshield and cause undue frictional drag. In this same context, the axial length of the rivet shoulders 34 and their clearance in the apertures 33 is to be accurately controlled so that only an appropriate amount or degree of canting of the blade unit with respect to the connector is possible.

In addition to the foregoing which deals with the particular canting attachment of the blade unit to the arm connector, the present invention also relates to the structure of the blade unit itself, and particularly to improve means for closing off the ends of the cavity 17 in the crown portion 16 of the blade body 15, such closure means being effective to prevent longitudinal movement of the leaf spring means 19 within the blade body, so that the mounting strip 24 and its shouldered rivets 28 are always properly positioned for attachment to the support strip 32 of the arm connector 13. Inasmuch as the closure means at both ends of the blade body 15 are the same, a description of one will suffice for both.

As shown in FIG. and also in the right-hand portion of FIG. 2, the closure means 40 at each end of the blade body comprises a strap 41 of metal, pastic, or the like, which is sufficiently rigid to be slidably inserted into the end portion of the cavity 17 above the uppermost leaf spring 21 of the leaf spring means 19. A closure cap 42 is formed integrally at the outer end of the strap 41 and this cap closes off the adjacent open end of the cavity 17 when the strap 41 is installed. Also,the cap 42 abuttingly engages the outer end of the leaf spring 21 which extends along the whole length of the cavity 17, and in this manner the cap prevents longitudinal movement of the entire leaf spring assembly 19 in relation to the blade body 15.

Although the closure means 40 are firmly held in place by frictional insertion of the strap 41 into the cavity 17 in conjunction with the leaf spring means 19, additional, more positive means are provided for preventing longitudinal movement of the closure means 40 in relation to the leaf spring means 19. Such additional means involve the provision of a detent 43 on the strap 41, which detent is seated in an opening 44 formed in the adjacent end portion of the leaf spring 21, thus positively preventing longitudinal shifting of the closure means strap 41 relative to the spring means 19. As shown in the left-hand portion of FIG. 5, the detent 43 may have a wedge end or bevelled end portion 43a to facilitate sliding insertion of the strap 41 into the cavity 17 and subsequent seating of the detent in the opening 44.

As in the disclosure of the parent application Ser. No. 90,987 and as will be apparent from the drawings of the present application the hollow crown portion 16 of the blade unit 12 snugly fits the biasing metallic leaf spring means 19 from end to end and is an integral part of the blade unit forming the head or bead thereof which is integral with the lower wiping portion 18. Such hollow crown portion 16 while enclosing the biasing spring means 19 does not enclose the mounting means for the connector 13 which mounting means includes the mounting strip 24, the base strip 30 and the support strip 32 all of which are external to the hollow crown portion or head 16. Such snug it of the hollow crown portion over the leaf spring means is essential to the proper functioning of the leaf spring means 19 which as more fully set forth in Ser. No. 90,987 biases the blade unit to the desired curvature. Such arrangement, namely the snug fit of the hollow crown portion 16 over the biasing leaf spring means 19 is in contradistinction to the loose fitting weather bonnet 16 shown in Oishei U.S. Pat. No. 2,728,100 wherein the bonnet loosely encloses both the crown or head portion of the wiper blade and also the pressure distributing frame.

The accompanying FIGS. 6 and 7 show a slightly modified embodiment which is substantially the same as the structure already described, except that the specific type of arm connector 13 shown in FIGS. l-5 is substituted by a different type of arm connector 130, of the type shown in FIGS. 12-16 in the aforementioned patent application Ser. No. 90,987. Apart from this difference, the attachment of the blade unit to the connector and the blade unit structure itself is the same as already described in regard to FIGS. 1-5 herein. While in the foregoing there have been described and shown the preferred embodiments of the invention, various modifications and equivalents may be resorted to within the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed as new is:

1. A blade unit for use in a windshield wiper assembly comprising in combination an elongated blade body formed from resiliently flexible material, said blade body including a hollow crown portion defining a longitudinally extending cavity therein and a lower wiping portion integral with the base of said crown portion, biasing leaf spring means contained within said cavity of the crown portion, said leaf spring means including at leastone spring which is coextensive in length with said cavity, and closure means for each end of the cavity serving to prevent longitudinal movement of said spring means relative to the blade body, said closure means comprising a strap inserted in said cavity in juxtaposition to said spring means, and a cap provided at the outer end of said strap, said cap closing the end of the cavity and abuttingly engaging the adjacent end of said one spring, said hollow crown portion fitting snugly around said biasing leaf spring means.

2. The device as defined in claim 1 together with means positively locking said strap of said closure means to said spring means, whereby to prevent longitudinal movement of the closure means relative to the spring means.

3. The device as defined in claim 2 wherein said locking means comprise a detent provided on said strap of the closure means and seated in an opening in said spring means.

4. The device as defined in claim 3 which is further characterized in that said strap of said closure means is superposed on said one spring, said locking opening being provided in said one spring and receiving said detent on the strap. 

1. A blade unit for use in a windshield wiper assembly comprising in combination an elongated blade body formed from resiliently flexible material, said blade body including a hollow crown portion defining a longitudinally extending cavity therein and a lower wiping portion integral with the base of said crown portion, biasing leaf spring means contained within said cavity of the crown portion, said leaf spring means including at least one spring which is coextensive in length with said cavity, and closure means for each end of the cavity serving to prevent longitudinal movement of said spring means relative to the blade body, said closure means comprising a strap inserted in said cavity in juxtaposition to said spring means, and a cap provided at the outer end of said strap, said cap closing the end of the cavity and abuttingly engaging the adjacent end of said one spring, said hollow crown portion fitting snugly around said biasing leaf spring means.
 2. The device as defined in claim 1 together with means positively locking said strap of said closure means to said spring means, whereby to prevent longitudinal movement of the closure means relative to the spring means.
 3. The device as defined in claim 2 wherein said locking means comprise a detent provided on said strap of the closure means and seated in an opening in said spring means.
 4. The device as defined in claim 3 which is further characterized in that said strap of said closure means is superposed on said one spring, said locking opening being provided in said one spring and receiving said detent on the strap. 